The Dutch rider scores a huge and hard-fought win on the sixth leg of the Global Champions Tour.

If you were looking for the Global Champions Tour competition that offered the most bang for your spectating buck, the July 11 stop in Estoril, Portugal, was it.

Portuguese show jumping fans definitely got their money’s worth of action, in quality and quantity, on the sixth leg of the GCT, but many likely wished they’d pitched a tent. Dutch rider Leopold Van Asten’s eventual victory was resounding, but by no means swift. With a first-place purse of $192,345—the largest grand prix prize in Europe—the fight to the finish wasn’t an easy one for the 44 starters.

An astounding 23 double-clears accumulated over Frank Rothenberger’s first-round grand prix course, more than ever before on the GCT. With so many horses returning for the second round, spectators got a lengthy look at their favorite riders from around the world. But Rothenberger’s follow-up course quickly tripped up anyone who had been lulled into a false sense of security.

Swiss rider Daniel Etter was third in the ring aboard Admirable and posted the first double-clear round, but after that rails and bodies flew in all directions. Irishman Cian O’Connor and British veteran John Whitaker were promptly grounded when their horses, Rancorrado and Sultano, respectively, both stopped.

Richard Spooner, who was coming off a big win in the fifth leg of the GCT in Monaco, was the only U.S. rider to compete in Estoril. And although he did advance as one of the 23 initial double-clears, his luck ran out in the second round when Cristallo hit the first fence and then bolted. Spooner managed to clear several more fences until losing his fight for control at a combination later in the course, where Cristallo stopped. They finished with 13 faults.

Brazilian legend Rodrigo Pessoa, who finished third behind Spooner in Monaco, fared only marginally better than his U.S. rival in the second round in Estoril. A disappointing 4 faults with Let’s Fly kept him out of the final jump-off. The horse was never in danger of touching a pole, but he also had no intention of flying low over the open water. His lofty leap over the spread left him with no chance of stretching safely across, and he landed with an inevitable splash.

Tim Gredley (Omelli), Patrick McEntee (Ever Mury Marais Z) and Ben Maher (Robin Hood W) all managed respectable four-fault rounds, but no one else was able to master the course until Van Asten and VDL Groep Santana B finally went clear to force a third-round jump-off. To the crowd’s delight, Etter and Van Asten were soon joined by Portuguese rider Luciana Diniz aboard As-Taro 2 and Switzerland’s Clarissa Crotta with Westside V-Meerputhoeve.

Etter was first to go in the jump-off, but Admirable’s magic had run out, and he faulted at four of the seven fences on course. Van Asten went next and was smoothly and efficiently clear. This turned out to be enough when Crotta had one rail and Diniz two, much to the crowd’s disappointment.

“I am very happy with my horse, especially as she is not so experienced at this level,” Van Asten said of the 10-year-old Dutch Warmblood mare (Mr. Blue—Maxime). “But she learned a lot in Cannes [France] and Monaco. Still, I have to say that even I was impressed with three clear rounds.

“This is an expensive sport, and I can certainly use this week’s winnings on the yard,” he added, laughing.

Crotta, who had been trained all week by Swiss legend Willi Melliger, hadn’t decided what to do with her second-placed prize money, but she admitted, “I’m sure I owe it all to Willi. I perform much better when he’s here to help me, like in Zurich [Switzerland], where I also did very well.”

Crotta’s second-placed finish at Estoril also undoubtedly attracted the eyes of the selectors for the European Championships after an unfortunate injury in Aachen (Germany) put Christina Liebherr’s L.B. No Mercy out of contention for Switzerland.

The Portuguese crowd was almost overwhelmed with Diniz’ third-placed performance, but she was equally moved by the support her home fans had given her.

“They carried me,” she said. “It was like in my favorite film, Gladiator, where the fighters are told they must get the crowd on their side. It was brilliant. And this is my best result ever. Before I’d placed sixth, and this time I was third, so perhaps next time I will be first!” 

Belgian rider McEntee, who has certainly been the tour’s most consistent competitor thus far, placed again, in seventh, with Ever Mury Marais Z. He continues to lead the GCT rankings and can almost assuredly look forward to his place in the Doha, Qatar, final, in November. But for a great many others, there’s still much to play for, with only two more competitions left to score vital points: Rio De Janeiro, Brazil, at the end of July, and Valkensward, the Netherlands, in September. The competition will certainly be heating up as it heads to the Southern Hemisphere.